Tosser~ a James Cook fanfic~

The end of the beggining

Tess Richardson had been looking forward to a quiet night in. School had ended, and she was ready to enjoy some peace and quiet at home—just her, the couch, and her comfort movie. She's the man. Unfortunately, Michelle had other plans. Her older sister had invited all her friends over to celebrate the end of college. Brilliant.

As Tess trudged down the stairs, the music blasting from the lounge grew louder. She headed for the kitchen, hoping to scavenge some leftovers from the party. The place was a mess, with empty chip packets strewn about and crumbs scattered across the counters. Clearly, most of the snacks had already been devoured.

She peered into the lounge room. Michelle and her friends were spread out laughing. Tony was cuddled right up to Michelle. Tess had always hated Tony. He was the cause of many nights of violent sobs , with her sister's anguished cries of "He's such a wanker, why do I love him!" or "He's a sick lying bastard!" ringing through the house. After the accident, things had only gotten more complicated. Despite Michelle's assurances that things had improved, Tess had heard such promises too many times to believe them.

Then there was Jal, who was next to a recently recovered Chris. Tess had known Jal for as long as she could remember, she was like a second older sister, and one with better advice then "Just look good and he'll get jealous it's what we do!" Michelle sounded just like her best friend Katie sometimes. Tess had always liked Chris. No matter how many times he had offered her pills at the ripe age of 12, he was always entertaining, she liked that in other people. Then there was Maxxie and Anwar. Maxxie was always nice to Tess, he even did her seconds for her since Michelle chickened out, and Anwar was a character that's for sure but there was always something so comforting about her sisters friends, she hoped she could find people like that at Roundview.

Tess finally spotted an unopened bag of something, she was desperate for anything at this point so she slipped into the room. She hoped she could grab the snacks unnoticed and sneak back up to the comfort of her room, she figured they were all to piss faced to realise her there but unfortunately she was wrong.

"Hey mini Michelle!" Chris called out

"Haven't seen you in a while Teresa," Tony said happily

"It's Tess" she said staring him dead in the face

"Tessy please. Be nice." Michelle said through pursed lips

"Yeah whatever" She said facing to leave

"Leaving so soon Tess? I haven't seen you in forever!!" Jal said affectionately and for a minute Tess missed the simplicity of hanging out with Jal and Michelle, begging to be included in their games when she was younger.

"Hey your starting Roundview soon, yeah?" Maxxie asked

"That's right." Tess said bluntly

"Hey Effy is too right Tone?" Michelle said while disgustingly playing with his hair

"Yeah I'm sure she's well excited," He said sarcastically.

Effy was Tony's little sister. Tess got along well enough with her when she spoke but that was when they were like toddlers. She had only seen Effy in passing since but she had certainly grown up.

"Oh maybe i'll see her round then" She said trying to be polite

"Well, are you excited??" Maxxie said

"Not if it's as shit as you guys made it sound" She said jokingly

"Oh come on we don't complain that much! It's really not that bad" Michelle re assured her

"Don't lie Chelle..." Anwar spoke up

"It was so bad I was glad I got kicked out!" Chris laughed

"It had its moments?" Jal said clearly unsure

"Yeah just make sure you don't do history" Michelle said

"Or EVER go on school trips to Russia!!" Anwar said, fear in his eyes

"Yeah I doubt they would ever let our school back in the country" Tony laughed

"Great chat guys, but I should go up," Tess said quietly, only being acknowledged by Maxxie and Jal as the others started laughing about some story. Tess heard the words Wife beater, horse glue and soldiers so she thought it was the right time to leave.

As annoying as Chelles friends were, sometimes she was going to miss them, always hanging around the girls' various houses over the years. Michelle wasn't going too far so she at least still had her sister, Tony was of course going to some fancy college, Sid and Cassie had both run off to New York- Although they didn't go together Tess was hoping it would work out, she had always liked Cassie. Maxxie and Anwar were also leaving soon and Tess was pretty sure Jal had plans for some music school, her and Chris were still living together so they would still be around. Tess walked back up the stairs, the laughter echoing through the house for the last time....